Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2005
Contact: Jessica Robinson, 573-751-0290
Blunt Announces More Than $1.2 Million in PRI Grants
JEFFERSON CITY–Gov. Matt Blunt today announced that Missouri has received more than $1.2 million in federal grants from the U.S. Department of Labor Prisoner Reentry Initiative (PRI).
Connections to Success (CtS) in Kansas City was awarded $659,432, which will help serve 200 adult ex-offenders in the Kansas City area. CtS will recruit ex-offenders through a formalized pre-release referral process that is already utilized through their existing relationship with the Missouri Department of Corrections. Recruitment will also be coordinated through inter-agency collaborations with CtS and local and statewide institutions like the U.S. Probation-Western District of Missouri, Kansas City Police Department, Kansas City Municipal Correctional Institution and the Kansas City Mayor’s Office.
CtS will use an employment centered strategy that includes assessments, workforce readiness training, job development and placement, substance abuse treatment, mentoring and post-employment support.
The St. Patrick Center in St. Louis was awarded $660,000, which will help serve 200 non-violent adult ex-offenders in the St. Louis area. Selected offenders will be provided with release plans before leaving prison. Recruitment will be coordinated with the Missouri Board of Probation and Parole, Missouri Attorney General’s Office and other St. Louis criminal justice agencies. The grant will help ex-offenders find employment, housing and help with addictions.
The PRI grants will help the state reduce the rate of recidivism among ex-offenders by helping them find and keep employment when released. Thirty grants were awarded from 549 applications.
The grants compliment Blunt’s efforts to improve the Missouri Reentry Process. A September executive order made permanent an interagency team to integrate successful offender reentry principles and practices in state agencies and communities resulting in partnerships that enhance offender self-sufficiency, reduce re-incarceration and improve public safety.
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